Surgery, gynecology & obstetrics
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Surg Gynecol Obstet · Mar 1975
Ultrasonically guided percutaneous fine needle biopsy of the pancreas.
By ultrasonic scanning, it is possible with reasonable accuracy to demonstrate space occupying lesions in the pancreas, and with a delicate ultrasonic technique, a puncture needle can be guided to a predetermined mass in the pancreas. In 25 patients with suspected pancreatic lesions, scanning demonstrated a solid mass lesion in the pancreas. Twenty-one patients had carcinoma; four had chronic pancreatitis. ⋯ In the four patients with chronic pancreatitis, normal pancreatic cells were aspirated. There were no immediate complications due to fine needle biopsy. The combination of ultrasonic scanning and ultrasonically guided percutaneous fine needle aspiration is an important adjunct to the management of pancreatic lesions.
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Surgeons will do well to remember that the two most important contributions to the growth and extension of surgery came from two disciplines, not then regarded as the most innovative. Anesthesia came from dentistry, the work primarily of W. T. ⋯ When will surgery experience another great catalytic forward thrust like that achieved through anesthesia, prophylactic antisepsis, and the antibiotics? No discipline in medicine can exist alone without privation. For its continuing advancement, surgery is dependent upon close and intimate relationships with many other medical disciplines. Apart from the enlightenment provided by a searching examination of the origins of our surgical discipline, the earnest and persistent pursuer will discover a lively pleasure and satisfaction that accrues as a special dividend.